Dr.
Dadoo and Dr. Naicker were charged in the Durban Magistrate's Court
in February 1948 with aiding and abetting passive resisters
to cross the Natal-Transvaal border in violation of the Immigration
Act of 1913. They pleaded guilty and were sentenced to six months
each with hard labour. The following is an extract from their joint
statement to Court before the sentence, read by Dr. Naicker.

...We submit, Your Worship, that our only offence is that of putting into practical
effect the assertion of the Union Prime Minister, General Smuts, made so
forcefully before the 1946 session of the United Nations (General) Assembly
that the South African Indians are Union nationals, This assertion was reiterated
by the Minister of the Interior, Mr. H. G. Lawrence at the 1947 session.
If we are Union nationals then it is but reasonable and in accordance with
natural justice to exercise the most elementary right of citizenship, that
of the freedom of movement within the boundaries of one's country of birth.
Any denial of such basic human rights would only make a mockery of democracy
and democratic principles.

The
crossing of the Provincial borders in wilful defiance of Act 22 of
1913, constitutes the second phase of the Passive Resistance
Movement which is being conducted by the Indian community under the
aegis of the Joint Passive Resistance Council of the Natal and Transvaal
Indian Congresses against the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation
Act of 1946, the Ghetto Act

During the last twenty months over two thousand gallant men and women
resisters of all races have courted imprisonment. They preferred to
suffer the rigours of jail life rather than submit to unjust and undemocratic
laws.

Gandhiji - Father of the Struggle

Your Worship, it is in this great cause and noble struggle that we
called upon volunteers to cross the borders and bear the penalty of
the law. We consider it an honour to do so. The Passive Resistance
struggle which we are conducting is based on truth and non-violence
and is associated with the name of the greatest man of all times, Mahatma
Gandhi, on whose death in tragic circumstances just a few weeks ago
the whole world wept. Among the millions of men who paid their last
tribute to this great soul was Field Marshal Smuts, the Prime Minister
of South Africa.

Mahatma Gandhi was the father of our struggle, Gandhi too defied
the unjust laws of South Africa and suffered imprisonment during the
1906-1913 Passive Resistance struggle.

This is the man whom Field
Marshal Smuts referred to as a "Prince
among Men". This is the man - the pilot of India's march to freedom
- who is the source and inspiration of our struggle for democratic
rights in South Africa.

This struggle of the Indian community against racial discrimination
of all kinds is part and parcel of the struggle of the whole Non-European
and democracy-loving peoples of South Africa to turn this country into
a genuine democratic State in which our multi-racial population will
live and work in harmony. It is in view of these considerations that
we are pleading guilty to the charge. We are willing to bear the full
penalty of the law.

Spirit Cannot be Crushed

Our bodies may be incarcerated but our spirits cannot be crushed.
It is the spirit of freedom which lives in the hearts of the oppressed.
It is the spirit which aims to do away with racial discrimination and
herrenvolkism. It is the spirit deep-rooted in the heart of every Non-European
generating the urge for a better life. It is the spirit which alone
can deliver the people from colour bondage in South Africa and make
this land a happier land for the generations to come.

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